The cartoon created by Marzio Manderioli depicts the Kelowna community raising up Kelowna Secondary School's flag.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Marzio Manderioli
June 05, 2021 - 6:00 PM
A former Kelowna Secondary School teacher and cartoonist has created a drawing to support the high school community as it grapples with the deaths of three students.
Last week, three Grade 12 KSS students who were set to graduate this month were killed in a single-vehicle crash at the intersection of Gordon Drive and Cook Road.
Since then, an outpouring of support has been shown by the community, including multiple fundraisers, a doorknob campaign where residents hung KSS school colours from their doors and a video project for the graduating class.
The cartoon, likened to the famous sculpture of soldiers holding up the American flag in the Marine Corps War Memorial, shows doctors, firefighters, and policemen holding up a KSS Strong flag along with other community members.
“That’s what came into my mind and I was trying to also represent different members of the community,” said artist Marzio Manderioli.
Manderioli retired in 2013 after teaching at KSS for the last eight years of his teaching career.
“As a retired teacher, I felt for what the staff went through but also, I’m a dad. I have a son who graduated in 2018 from KSS so when you hear of students passing away, it’s always tragic and I just happened to have sort of a deeper connection to the KSS community than the general citizen in Kelowna would,” he said.
Most of his cartoons are drawn at weddings and events but he’ll still post cartoons on current events to his Facebook page and website.
He posted the KSS cartoon to his Facebook page May 29.
He uses his cartoons as a tool to stay engaged with people on social media, rather than commentary that will capture the community interest, he said.
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